An illegal alien living in Alabama crashed into a car driven by a schoolteacher, killing her upon impact, officials said.
Domingo Marcos, 16, slammed into Sonya Jones on March 18, according to the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors told WPMI that Marcos is an illegal alien from Guatemala who tried claiming asylum in Arizona in 2017 but failed to show up for his hearing, triggering a denial of his claim in addition to an order for his deportation.
According to the Department of Justice, 89 percent of asylum-seekers from Central America pass an initial credible-fear screening at the border but only 9 percent are subsequently granted asylum by an immigration judge.
Friends of Sonya Jones tell me they’re devastated by the untimely loss of their friend, a local teacher killed Monday, @MobileDAoffice says, by an illegal immigrant in a head-on collision https://t.co/BWsbj5SpCU
— Andrea Ramey (@Andrea_WPMI) March 21, 2019
Of those who pass the initial screening, 40 percent fail to lodge an official asylum application and 31 percent fail to show up for their immigration court hearing, according to the department.
More than 800,000 asylum-seekers are already in the United States awaiting adjudication of their claims. The immigration court system is so bogged down that it will take at least seven years to clear the existing claims, without adding new ones, according to The Epoch Times.
Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are overwhelmed by how many aliens are on the run, including many convicted or accused of crimes.
“The reality is, even if you skip out on the process, you’re probably not gonna come to the attention of ICE or be a target of ICE unless you’ve also committed another crime,” she told Fox 10. “And so, it’s just a matter of ICE doing triage.”
The center found in 2015 that nearly 180,000 of the illegal aliens with deportation orders were convicted of other crimes.
Prosecutors said that Marcos not only killed Jones but that he left the scene of the crash. It wasn’t clear if he had a driver’s license and if he did how he obtained it.
Marcos was arrested and charged with homicide by vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries.
He appeared in court on Monday with an interpreter, who translated what the assistant district attorney said into Spanish. He had appeared in court on Friday but the appearance was delayed when he said that he didn’t speak or understand English.
Prosecutors told Marcos that even if he were granted bond he would be deported but said that they wanted him to be held accountable for the crash.
“The importance of making sure he doesn’t get a bond is that he is here in Alabama facing these charges being held accountable for them. If he’s deported, then he’ll be sent to Guatemala and we’ll never see him again. He will not face these charges,” said Keith Blackwood, the assistant district attorney, reported Fox 10.
Marcos’s court-appointed attorney later said: “I think it’s a very tragic situation. We’ve got a mother, a woman, that is no longer with us, and a 16-year-old kid who’s scared out of his mind right now.”
The judge denied bond in the case and was scheduled to appear in court again on Thursday.
Bond denied in case against teen illegally living in the U.S. https://t.co/Eld0oQICDc
— FOX10News | WALA (@FOX10News) March 25, 2019
Friend Reacts
Aja James, who taught with Jones at Living Word Christian Center Kingdom Academy, said that she misses her friend and colleague.
“She was the most caring. She would look out for someone else before she looked out for herself,” James told WPMI, relaying thoughts from Jones’ students. “You walk in here and I can’t fathom that she’s not going to be here.”
About the Guatemalan accused of killing her friend, James added: “We’ve been praying for him as well because I don’t know how can you deal with taking somebody’s life like that.”
She also noted that Jones was a mother whose daughter is in high school.
An innocent woman was murdered by an illegal alien right here in Alabama. How many American citizens must die before the Democrats will renounce their dangerous open border agenda and take the necessary action to secure our border? https://t.co/rg159GRnmB
— Bradley Byrne (@BradleyByrne) March 24, 2019
‘Enough Is Enough!’
Lawmakers responded by saying the killing highlighted a need for action.
“This tragic loss of life is a result of our broken immigration system & those who refuse to take the necessary steps to secure our border. My deepest condolences are with the family,” said U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) on Twitter. “An innocent woman was murdered by an illegal alien right here in Alabama. How many American citizens must die before the Democrats will renounce their dangerous open border agenda and take the necessary action to secure our border?”
“Another American has been killed on American soil by an illegal alien. This time it was Sonya Jones of S. Alabama. If not for open-borders policies, Sonya would still be alive today and Sonya’s family and friends would not be mourning her tragic death,” added U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.).
“If someone had required him to go to that asylum hearing, and if he didn’t show up, they picked him up within a reasonable time period afterward, we wouldn’t be here today,” added Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich, reported Fox 10.
“And we wouldn’t have a family that’s grieving and can’t even—can barely talk about the loss of their loved ones at the hands of this person.”
